28 
deposit their ova. I put them free to fly in a good size cage with 
leaves and bark and twigs of elm and pear and plum, and carefully 
fed them, but all to no avail; I propose to make the attempt again 
this year, and should be grateful for any hints on the subject. My 
cabinet series will show the forms I secure at Pinner, and as I have 
never taken it elsewhere, or even seen specimens exhibited in juxta¬ 
position to my own, this evening will be valuable I hope in presenting 
to us the opportunity of so doing. Generally speaking they appear to 
be of the dark violet-brown form, but some seem to exhibit a tendency 
to paler colouring, and I have set aside two in the right hand corner of 
my drawer to demonstrate the extreme forms that I take. 
It appears to be very firmly established in that part of Pinner, 
immediately surrounding my house, and personally I have never taken 
it elsewhere. I cannot, however, find any mention of Middlesex in 
any book as being one of its counties. 
This, gentlemen, must conclude my remarks anent this very 
interesting group, and I deeply regret my weakness in handling it, but 
I trust that it may at least serve the purpose of opening up an 
interesting discussion, for which this evening is more really set aside. 
SOME NOTES ON BREEDING AND COLLECTING DURING THE 
RECORD SEASON OF 1911. 
(Read November 7th, 1911, by L. W. NEWMAN, F.E.S.) 
During January and February I devoted a considerable time to 
collecting larvaa of the Sesiidae. I found S. andrenifonnis fairly common, 
but as I had in the past worked it pretty hard I only spent three days, 
or rather parts of three days, in working for them ; the result was not 
as good as previous years and I therefore left them alone in case I 
should make them scarcer. 
S. culiciformis were in thousands in every wood 1 visited that had 
been cut the previous winter. I found a considerable number up the 
young twigs and this is by far the best way to collect them; the tits 
had been before me, however, and had ripped open the twigs and 
extracted the juicy morsel from a great many; the stumps were full of 
holes where the tits had been at them, but by hard work it was easy to 
collect a great number. 
A few hints to those who wish to breed this species may be accept¬ 
able. In digging out the larvae from the stumps many come out of 
their cocoons. Get a good sized tin, half fill it with sand and fill up 
with chips of birch, place the larvae in this and keep moist, stand the 
tin in a hothouse, and in ten days all will have pupated ; the wood 
should then be removed from tin and laid on damp sand and the 
imagines will emerge in about a week; I found if left in the tin some 
could not emerge as they had spun their cocoons on side of the tin 
and in many instances the pupa head was against the side of the tin. 
Those in the twigs should be stuck into damp sand, and those which 
you can get out of stump on a piece of the wood with cocoon intact 
xxi. 
